Making My Desk Bigger

I told you last week that I have been hording gadgets for my new office. I also mentioned a while back that the only thing missing from my ergonomic desk setup is a monitor arm. I want to get my monitor up off my desk and be able to pull the screen close to see it, push it away to work on my desk, and flip it around to show someone else seated across from me. I also want to be able to position it perfectly so that I won’t strain my eyes or hurt my neck with a too-distant image or an off-kilter viewing angle.

I almost had myself persuaded that even at $295-and-up, a Humanscale monitor arm was worth the money. The damage that working at a less-than-ideal computer setup can do to the neck and wrists is irreparable and can be very painful. And my own wrists have been getting worse of late. But, in the name of due diligence, I did a little research before kicking in that much cash. And I discovered a monitor arm by Ergotron that not only looked promising â€“ feature for feature it seemed pretty close to the Humanscale one â€“ but that cost only $114 at Amazon. Well within striking distance. One trip to a masseuse to correct a day of bad posture costs nearly that much.

So I bought it.

This thing has transformed my desk. I absolutely love it. Space that was once wasted behind and under the monitor is now completely free of clutter. I hadn’t realized how much of my desk was being sucked into a monitor-induced void until I lifted it up and out of the way. I can now flick the monitor aside and spread paper out over my entire desk. I was once limited to perching on a small corner of the desk while my monitor hogged the rest. Not anymore.

But, more importantly, my eyes are happy. When I hit a web site with print that is too small to see, I pull the screen closer. I can just as easily flip the image around to show a visitor a hilarious video (seriously you should check that one — linked — out) or move the screen up if I want to stand while I’m talking on the phone and still see a demo or take notes.

It was easy to install, too — especially since I coaxed my husband to do it for me. But it was not quite as easy as I was led to believe it would be. The copy on the Ergotron LX Desk Mount ArmÂ monitor said that I would be able to clamp the arm to my desk. (The way it looks in this illustration, above.) But my desk didn’t have a wide enough lip to allow that. I doubt many desks do.Â It came with a drill-through-the-desk option, though, and that’s what we did. It required only a small drill hole in my desk â€“ enough to get a largish screw through. And, in retrospect, I think the drill-through-the-desk installation is the way to go. It looks terrific and feels very study. I just love this thing.

Here is a goofy guy from TigerDirect.com demonstrating how to install it. (Though he is using the clamp-to-the-edge-of-the-desk method.)

Â

Â

I wish I’d taken video of my husband installing mine. But, since he cusses constantly when using power tools, that would have required I give this site an R rating.